Unknown veritas alarm - tamper battery removed

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Recently moved into new house with a veritas alarm but I don't know the exact spec. Some googling suggests it's Veritas 8(?).

View media item 70460
When we moved in the (tamper?) battery was removed from the main alarm box. I haven't yet tried to connect it.

On the panel, the unset light is solid green. The tamper light is off (unsurprisingly).

We have been provided the alarm codes but the real estate agent was not certain it was correct. I'd like to verify it is correct before going away over christmas but I'm not sure how I would turn it off if I don't have the correct code!

Is there anyway to try the code and turn off the alarm if it doesn't work?

If we do have the correct code, is there anyway of testing it?

Thanks for any help!
tim
 
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Tamper battery ? Battery removed ? Or tamper disconnected ? Enter code unset light should start to flash, if not it's the wrong code. Don't set system with no battery as the slightest mains flicker could set off alarm replace battery if unsure of age.
 
Tamper battery ? Battery removed ? Or tamper disconnected ?

Thanks for the quick reply. Alarm terminology not being my strong side, I should've stayed clear of trying to guess the name. The battery is completely disconnected from the main alarm box.

Like I said, the unset light is green on the panel but you're saying the alarm won't work without the battery?

Also, trying to figure out why the builders that renovated would've removed the battery? Is is a way of silencing the alarm?

Probably best to get an alarm engineer out...
cheers
 
If the battery has been removed from the main control panel
(not the keypad as you have shown).

The Veritas range basically works the same.

If the main box if has a keypad on a grey background its a Veritas 8, if its part of white/ cream plastic and has a little flap were the leds are its a compact 8.

If its a plan box with an led top middle it could be an R8 or R8+, the Veritas Excel comes with an LCD keypad.

I would try the default user code 4321. If the code the estate agent gave didn't work.
 
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Probably best to get an alarm engineer out...

Good idea !

You could at least try the code that you were given to see if it responds like sparkymarka suggests.

If it does accept the code and start going into setting mode, just re-enter the code to cancel it. At least you then know you've got the correct code.
 
Probably best to get an alarm engineer out...

Good idea !

You could at least try the code that you were given to see if it responds like sparkymarka suggests.

If it does accept the code and start going into setting mode, just re-enter the code to cancel it. At least you then know you've got the correct code.

Yes, happy to do that. What do I do if I don't have the right code? How would I turn it off?
 
If your talking about turning off/ disabling the alarm, I would get an alarm engineer in so its done properly with minimum nuisance to your neighbors.

If you turn power off to the panel completely the external bell may ring as it has no power coming from the panel and it thinks its being tampered with.

The external bell will stop eventually, should stop after 15 minutes but have known some bells to go on for some time and others do nothing, depends on your bellbox.
 
Seems very hard to get a quote for maintenance - is this a very old alarm? Should it be replaced?

I hope it's not against the forum rules, but if anyone can recommend a service engineer in North London that could service this alarms via pm it would be appreciated.

Thanks!
tim
 
They still manufacture these panels so a replacement should be possible if required.

Someone may pm you if they are local, you can look in yellow pages any alarm installer should be able to sort out a Veritas.

You can always try the ssaib or nsi web sites.

the unset light being on solid indicates theres nothing currently wrong with the system and its unset.

what did the main panel look like?
 
It looks like the picture below and the small panel matches so I'm getting confident it's the Veritas R8.

View media item 70475
As you say, they do still sell it but every service engineer I've talked to (3) have proposed to install a new panel...

Thanks for the tips, I'll have a look at those sites.
tim
 
what sort of price are they quoting and for what panel, if you dont mind me asking.

It may be cheaper to replace the panel then attempt to trouble shoot it, if there is a problem.

The panels are not expensive and swapping things over onto a new system probably take a few hours at most and it be under warranty.

Do you know how many zones are connected and which devices are on each zone?

The problem being if the engineers code is locked then the best we can do is get the defaults loaded into the panel.

The engineer code wont default but the panel will, if you know what you have on the system, particularly panic buttons or smoke detectors then unfortunately can not be programmed back in without the engineers code.

If the engineers code isn't locked and there's nothing wrong with the panel it can be reprogrammed no matter whats on the system.
 
As you say, they do still sell it but every service engineer I've talked to (3) have proposed to install a new panel...
What that means is that they don't want to do such a little job that wont take long and not much money in it, hence the new panel.

I always work on, little is always better than none.
 
May be I don't make much as I hate to see something that works go to waste.

I advise the customer of what may happen and for the cost of a new panel I take one with me, and we can convert on the fly if needs be with customers approval of course, but at least I can show them why it needs upgrading, rather than replacing it just to a make the job viable.

saying that heard installers waste hours trying to find a fault and ended up replacing the panel anyway.
 
Just to get an idea, what would a new panel entail. Is it actually just replacing the two panels and re-wire? Sounds like a lot of work to me but maybe it's not.

Any recommendations on panels? I'm mostly after the rough cost-estimate to be honest...
Thanks!
tim
 
best getting prices local to you.

theres no faults on the system showing you just don't appear to have any codes.

easiest thing is swap over the pcb swap over the transformer so everything new in the box, everything else should work.

other than that its taking the whole thing off the wall, putting the new one on again a few hours max including testing, theres not a lot to the veritas to be honest.
 

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